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  • Mishpachah (Family)

  • Make Your Own Ten Commandments With Your Children

    Last year we made our own “tablets of stone” for Shavuot.  I printed them, the children coloured them in, then we wiped them over with a wet teabag to give a mottled, old appearance

  • This Week's Featured Article

  • Jerusalem in Google's Eyes

    If you can't be in Jerusalem this year on Yom Yerushalayim Jerusalem Day, which is May 20th, at least you can be virtually there.   The amazing Street View function on Google Maps

  • Going Green

  • Flowers and Cheese

    Shavuot is singular in the calendar of Jewish holidays. It, unlike all of the other Jewish holidays, has no special mitzvot attached to it, nor does it possess a unique holiday presence. Perhaps this is one of the causes why


  • All About Books

  • The Book of Ruth

     Excerpted with permission from Every Person's Guide to Shavuot (Jason Aronson, Inc). In traditional settings, the Book of Ruth is read on the second day of Shavuot. The book is about a Moabite woman who, after her husband dies, follows her Israelite

    Judaism's Great Debates

    We Need More Jewish Debate, Not Less By  Barry Schwartz Some will tell you that we need less debate in the Jewish community that for the sake of unity we need to stifle dissent and limit the amount

    Haggadah - With Many to Choose, Find One That's Right for Your Seder

    Has your family ever led a Seder before?  Are there young children present?  Is it all adult?  Do you enjoy discussions or would you rather just get on with the meal?  There are many Haggadot to choose

    Anne Frank: Still Writing in the Attic

    At the start of Shalom Auslander’s staggeringly nervy new novel “Hope A Tragedy,” a doleful Jewish non farmer named Solomon Kugel climbs fearfully into the attic of his recently acquired farmhouse. He hopes the tapping sounds

    Is Jewish Funny? Is Funny Jewish

      The Arts Comic ReliefLeah F. Finkelshteyn What is “Yiddishkeit”? The term encompasses Jewish culture, secular or religious. Its language, Yiddish, was born from a fusion of Hebrew, German and Slavic tongues. Its attitude can be cultured and warm or

    Cool Jew: The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe

    Lisa Alcalay Klug’s new book, Cool Jew The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe, is a history and how to manual of…well, being a cool Jew. Among other things, she has a yarmulke decoder,

    Best 100 Contemporary Jewish Books Since 1985

    With 2011 coming to a close and the holiday season upon us, you may be looking for some books as gifts to friends, or yourself, of great Jewish reading.  Michael Lerner compiled a list of 100 significant books from the last 25

    Books You'll Kvell Over this Fall

    Summer ends, and things begin to get a little more hectic.  That's why we're recommending a bit of "light" that we think you'll kvell over.  Take a break from preparing your holiday meals and pick one up today Stars of

    Summer Reading Lists

    It's finally time to brush off those beach blankets, pull out those umbrellas and head to the beach or pool   What better than to relax under the sun with a good book?  Why not try a book from one

    Get a Head Start on Your Summer Reading List!

    Spring means that summer is right around the corner   Every summer, we sit at the beach or pool and dive into a great book, but why wait?  This year, spend your spring reading some of the best books in

    The Consummate Showwoman

    Reprinted from My Jewish Learning Sarah Bernhardt flirted with the novelist Alexandre Dumas, posed for the painter Alphonse Mucha, had an affair with Victor Hugo, and was, in the late 19th century, the most famous actress in the world.Bernhardt was

    Jewish Voices, New and Old

    New Jewish Voices The Foundation for Jewish Culture has awarded the 2010 Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by Emerging Writers to Joanna Smith Rakoff for her debut novel, A Fortunate Age. Joanna Smith Rakoff is the author of the novel

    On One Foot

    A new Nextbook Press biography of Hillel makes clear that the rabbi's words and thoughts—though millennia old—resonate today  By Joseph Telushkin  According to rabbinic tradition, Hillel the Elder, one of the great sages in Jewish history, died 2,000 years ago,

    On the Bookshelf

    On rootlessness and family trees  By Josh Lambert A midsummer day’s nightmare shlepping all your worldly possessions to a new apartment. Everybody wants to settle in before the High Holidays and the school year starts, making June, July, and August

    Unorthodox Theology

       Men of Mystery                    Alan Furst’s bestselling spy novels depict the secret allegiances and betrayals that animated interwar and wartime Europe, but what distinguishes his work from others who’ve toiled in the genre is the attention he pays to the

    Coffee & Conversation

    Back in April, JBooks teamed up with Peet's Coffee & Tea to present a very interesting live event in which Elinor Lipman kibbitzed with Anita Diamant about Diamant's latest novel, Day After Night, and a batch of other Interesting Things

    Alice Apologizes

     By Elinor Lipman "I came up with the opening line standing at my stove, then went up to my computer and pretty much wrote it," says Elinor Lipman about this story. "I liked the sound of the 'Jews on the

  • Music for the Jewish Soul

  • Songs and Dances for Shavuot

    Shavuot conjures up images of the giving of the Torah, harvesting, going out into the fields, eating dairy and staying up all night studying.  So it's only natural that songs associated with Shavuot inlcude

  • The Young... 

    and The Restless

    (Jewish Teen Channel)
     

  • Jewish Confirmation

    A modern addition to Shavuot By Rabbi Robert Goodman  The Jewish Confirmation ritual is one whose popularity has waxed and waned since its inception in the 19th century. Though it is today overshadowed for most Jews



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